Leadership Versus Management

How does leadership differ from Management?

Leadership is the ‘heart’ and management is the ‘head’. Leadership is focused on thoughts and feeling whereas management is focused on tools, measuring things. Leadership is selfless, and operates in the interest of serving others.

The etymology of the two words reveal the difference. Management comes the latin word meaning hand, that is to handle things. The dictionary talks of dealing and controlling things. Note the derivative to ‘controlling’ (can we control people?). Leadership comes from the Anglo Saxon language, meaning guidance and conduct.

Guidance and conduct give us clues on how we should lead. The notion that leaders coach, serve others, and act as exemplars to others (conduct). We can only lead others when we become self aware and understand the impressions our conduct leaves on others.

With a client this week, he was complaining that people were not following up on the work he delegating and letting sloppiness effect the customers. I probed deeper, and as we discussed the situation we found that he had stopped meeting regularly with his direct reports to discuss there work loads, outcomes, and help coach them through road blocks. Suddenly the light went off, he had the insight that his direct reports either didn’t feel valued or just thought these things were no longer important. Not because they weren’t important in his mind, but because his behavior didn’t demonstrate it.

This is the key difference between management and leadership is self awareness.

Leadership courses and coaching focus on profound self development. Which is the hard work leaders talk about. Not the hard physical work of endless mindless meetings. But deliberate self examination.

Of course management is practical and we must do it in order to take care of the pragmatics of life. But unless it is done with the mindfulness of leadership, then it is likely to be ho-hum and worse, probably an attempt to control people.

Bottom line: We can all improve our leadership, and leadership is the guidance mechanism of management tasks.

(C) Daniel Lock 2008. All rights reserved.